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Regions affected

Primary Lymphedema

• • This can range from only part of one limb, to many parts of the body, including the gut and lungs. If one leg is affected, it is likely that the other also has poor lymphatic drainage and is also at risk.

    • Secondary Lymphedema

• • This occurs in the region which drains through the lymphatics which have been damaged, (e.g. if the lymph nodes have been removed by surgery or fibrosed by radiotherapy). Thus it often occurs in the arm following a mastectomy, in a leg after an operation for melanoma, and in both legs after surgery for cancer in the pelvic region. It is also quite frequent in the lower leg after a severe accident (e.g. on a motorbike) which causes many lymphatics to be severed.

    • In filaritic lymphedema, the swelling depends on where the worms finally lodged. If it was in the nodes draining a leg, the leg swells; if it was in nodes further along the lymphatics, both legs and the genital regions may swell.

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